


December 1989

by pickingoutchinapatterns



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Other, headcannon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 12:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15908568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pickingoutchinapatterns/pseuds/pickingoutchinapatterns
Summary: This is more of a headcanon about one of the motivating factors behind Scully's choice to enter the FBI.  Warning: Based on true horrible events.





	December 1989

December, 1989  
Scully + Turning points in their life (prompt)  
Note: I was going to include this in my (currently on the backburner) series To Be An American hero, but I’m going to post a bit now. I’ll flesh it out later in the actual TBAAH fic. This is more like a list of headcanons than an actual fic.

Scully’s introduction to the reality of existing in a boy’s club didn’t come thanks to the FBI or to medicine, but rather much earlier in her education. Most people who were pre-med had to take an introductory physics course in their first year and Scully, being Scully, decided to take the physics for physicist majors’ course instead. She had always enjoyed the sciences and didn’t want to limit her options yet in first year. The course was challenging in a way that she absolutely loved; she had to learn how integrate in her physics course before the subject was even introduced to her in calculus. 

During her undergrad, she found that most of her core courses were also mandatory for those in engineering physics. It was because of this that she met Geneviève, who was half American, half French Canadian and the only female student in engineering physics. Scully had received some sneers and comments geared towards her given her decision to go into physics, instead of a “softer science” like biology or psychology. Gen, she soon discovered, had a more challenging time. At first, some of their classmates, even a few of the professors, tried to convince Gen that she should really be in chemical engineering (or “fem eng” as some called it, because of the slightly higher female population), if she really did want to insist on being an engineer at all. Math, they said, is really not a subject that women were meant to handle. Where Scully developed a proud, sometimes falsely seen as cold, suit of armour, Gen decided to fully immerse herself into becoming “one of the guys,” regardless of some of the comments she had to brush off and let slide. Both women were drawn to each other, honing their quick wits and humour as survival skills, often teaming up as lab partners when they were not specifically assigned to work with someone else. 

Despite their struggles, the two did earn the respect of most of their peers (some assholes will always be assholes), won many awards and were able to pursue higher education – Scully in medical school in the USA and Gen getting her master’s and then PhD in Canada. They kept in touch after undergrad, agreeing to see each other at least once a year as they pursued more education. 

In December of 1989, Scully was starting to become disillusioned with medicine. The material was interesting, but so many of her classmates believed that they were God’s gift to the human race. She went into medicine to help people, to make an impact, but she felt like actual patient care was mostly done by the nurses (who were also looked down upon by some of her medical colleagues, especially when an unfortunate nurse dared to disagree with their opinion) while she spent the majority of her time drinking coffee, doing paperwork, and trying to drown out the egos around her. The pamphlet from the FBI was getting creased in her purse, having been in her possession since September. A career in the Bureau looked more and more promising every time her beeper went off when she was trying to catch up on sleep. The timing was good too - she was going to visit Gen in just a week. Gen had successfully defended her master’s thesis and would just be wrapping up marking papers by the time Scully arrived in Montreal. She was hoping to talk over her indecision with Gen about her career path before bringing it up with her family over Christmas.

After a grueling 36 hour shift, Scully arrived back at her apartment and found her answering machine blinking. Exhausted, she had planned on ignoring her messages until she emerged from a well-deserved hibernation, but the phone rang just as she was going to crawl into bed.

“Dana, hi sweetie, how are you doing?”

“I’m fine mom, just tired. I was just about to go to bed. Can we talk tomorrow?”

Maggie paused for a second. “Honey, have you been listening to the news tonight?”

Scully sighed, her mind more on sleep than anything else. “No mom, I just got in. Can…”

“Your friend, Geneviève, what school does she go to?”

“She goes to McGill.” Maggie sighed in relief through the phone and Scully continued. “Mom, I’m sorry, but I’m really tired. Why are you bringing this up now?” 

Maggie pauses, unsure whether to burden her or not, but Scully pressed on.

“Mom?”

“There was a shooting at this French university in Montreal. It’s all over the news. École…P something.”

“École Polytechnique? She’s a TA there.” Scully sits up on the couch, now wide awake. “Mom, I have to go. I’ll, I’ll get back to you soon.”

“I love you dear. Stay safe.”

Scully doesn’t get a hold of Gen for a couple of days. She does reach her father, Mr. Beauchemin, many hours later, who assures her that Gen is ok and just in shock. The full tragedy of the incident slowly leaks out to the world and it makes Scully sick. It is what finalizes her decision to go into the FBI.

\- - -

Marc Lepine applied twice to l’École Polytechnique but didn’t get in. He attributed his rejection to feminism, believing that women took his rightful spot because they should never be working non-traditional jobs. On December 6, 1989, he entered a classroom at l’École Polytechnique, where he separated the men and the women, claimed to be fighting feminism and then proceeded shoot all 9 women, killing 6 of them. His rampage continued throughout the school, where he shot 28 people, killed 14 women and then committed suicide like the coward he was. His suicide note blamed feminists for ruining his life. It is the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history.

Author’s note: I was in high school during the Columbine shooting. Before that, the only other school shooting that I knew about was this one. In Canada, December 6 is commemorated as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.  
I have two brothers who are engineers, one who did his undergrad in engineering physics. He took a lot of classes with physics majors. Given that Scully did her undergrad in physics, I feel like she would have taken a lot of classes with engineers as well. Engineering is still a male-dominated field (chemical engineering is still known as “fem eng”), so I believe that if there was another woman in the field at that time then they would have been good friends. Given the time of the massacre, I don’t think that it’s a stretch that this event would have impacted Scully’s decision to go into the FBI.  
In Memorium  
Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte, Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz and the other students who unfortunately committed suicide after surviving the massacre, RIP.


End file.
